During the BIOS check the computer beeps twice and displays the following message: ‘Sec master Drive ATAPI incompatible’. The computer continues to load normally, but the DVD drive is no longer recognised in Windows and does not display with the other drives in My Computer. In the Device Manager, the Maxtor 4D040H2 DVD drive is displayed under ‘Disk drives’ with the status claiming the device is functioning properly. Attempts to update the drivers for the device did not succeed. The drive itself appears to be working correctly, as the light blinks and after inserting a CD or DVD the drive spins-up. It seems that Windows simply does not recognize the drives existence. The problem only occurred recently.

In your description, I think you have mixed-up the hard drive and DVD drive. The ‘Maxtor 4D040H2′ drive is your hard drive, which is why the device is listed under ‘Disk drives’. Your DVD drive should be listed under the ‘DVD/CD-ROM Drives’ category. However since you did not notice this category it probably does not appear in the Device Manager, because Windows has not recognised any DVD or CD-ROM drives on your system. So, it seems that Windows is not recognising the drive at all.

The message regarding the ATAPI incompatibility appears during the BIOS POST (power on self test). This indicates there is a hardware-level configuration issue with the drive (e.g. in the BIOS) as opposed to a software-level issue (i.e. within Windows). Because of this hardware-level issue, the low-level systems of the computer are not recognising the drive, and thus Windows cannot see there is any drive at all. So, we need to focus our attention on the root hardware cause of the problem, to enable the drive to be configured correctly allowing the hardware to properly recognise the device so Windows can ’see’ the drive.

ATA is the interface used to connect storage devices (e.g. CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, hard drives) within computers. While there are some intricacies with different types and versions of ATA (e.g. Parallel ATA and Serial ATA) the term ATA can generally be used interchangeably with more commonly used terms such as IDE, EIDE, or ATAPI (for a full explanation of ATA, see: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATAPI).

Since the drive worked correctly for a long period of time before the error occurred, the two most common causes of the error at this stage are either loose (or disconnected) data cables inside the computer, or incorrect BIOS settings. Given the problem only just started occurring, the most likely cause is a cable has become disconnected. Shutdown the computer and unplug the machine from the power source. Open the computer case, and then touch the chassis to ground yourself from any static electricity. Even better, use an anti-static wrist strap when working inside the computer with electrostatic-sensitive components. Make sure the ribbon-cable connecting the DVD drive to the motherboard is correctly connected and also any second device on the same cable is also correctly connected. Once this has been done, close-up the computer and power-on to check whether this has solved the problem.

Should the problem remain, the second most likely cause is a misconfiguration in the system BIOS. It would be unclear why such a misconfiguration happened now, but it may have been caused when configuring another device resulting in changes to the DVD drive configuration. In any case, changing the system BIOS settings can be quite a risky procedure and if done incorrectly, may result in other hardware devices (such as the hard drive) not being recognised, making the computer unbootable. So, only proceed if you are confident in changing the BIOS settings.

Given the different BIOS setup screens and unique configurations of different computers, I will only be able to provide general guidance on changing the BIOS settings, as opposed to step-by-step advice. Should you wish to proceed, open the BIOS setup by pressing the designated shortcut key during the POST. For example, many computers say ‘Press DEL to enter setup’ during the POST. Once the BIOS setup appears, go into the relevant section for the storage devices. On many computers, this can be found in ‘Standard CMOS Features’ BIOS page. Check whether the DVD drive has been correctly recognised and identified by the BIOS setup (i.e. the correct name of the drive is displayed). Should the drive be displayed incorrectly, you may need to get the BIOS to re-detect the drive, or set the drive type to ‘Auto’ so the drive is automatically scanned and detected upon each boot.

Once you have changed and are satisfied with the new settings, close and save the BIOS setup. The computer should restart, allowing you to check whether the problem has been fixed. However, if at any stage you make any mistakes then you should close but DO NOT save the BIOS settings. Close the BIOS setup, and disregard any setting changes (i.e. do not save the changed settings).